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Anyways, at first glance this seems like an odd fit. I haven't seen much of Utah St, but I thought they were a spread team and I know he worked at Utah prior to being the HC at Utah St. I'll be interested to see who he brings in as the OC.

This is a very good hire in my opinion. I remember when Oregon played Utah State in 2008 (I think that is correct), and this was an 0-12 type program. No talent, and just a paycheck type of non-conference opponent. Anderson rebuilt Utah State from the ground up, and he did it very quickly. It's never a certainty that a coach will make the jump to major D-1 football successfully, but I do think Wisconsin may have found a winner here.

Remains to be seen in my opinion. It appears to be a good but not great hire. Just some things that I see about it....

Pros

(1) He took a terrible program and in just a couple seasons had turned them into a bowl team.

(2) He is a defensive-minded coach who runs a tight ship.

(3) You aren't getting a retread. This is an upcoming coach who "could" end up being the next big coach.

Cons

(1) His recruiting classes haven't been very good at Utah State. I heard them say on the radio today that last year his recruiting class was ranked dead last in the WAC. If he wants to do anything at Wisconsin he is gonna have to recruit and outside of the area.... In the past when they have had success they had a decent amount of players from places like California and Florida.

(2) His teams have run the spread. They have already made it clear that he won't run that at Wisconsin and want him to stay with the power running game. I don't like they hire a guy and then tell him to change his philosophy.

(3) He turned Utah State around there is no doubting that fact. However the speed of that turnaround is pretty deceptive when you consider that the WAC lost most of their top schools overnight. It probably is alot easier to turn around when Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada and Boise State all leave for another conference and are replaced by schools like Texas State.

Well Wisconsin's recruiting classes have never really been top of the Big Ten. They manage(d) to get the right players for their system, though. But who knows what will happen with Andersen, whether he sticks to traditional Badger football or not. I am optimistic either way.

Utah State coach Gary Andersen called every one of his players after news broke, going to #Badgers. Took till 2:30 am. 106 calls or so.

On the possibility of Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton following Petersen to Wisconsin (Keeton finished 18-of-34 with 181 passing yards, two touchdowns and 75 rushing yards in Wisconsin's 16-14 win over Utah State on Sept. 15):

@Tjonessltrib You think Chuckie would leave early if Gary leaves?
Tony Jones@Tjonessltrib
@Findaddy81 - worse...I think Chuckie could become a Badger...he has two years and a redshirt remaining

Badgers To Sign Gary Andersen from Utah St.

I'm really happy about this hire, I think we will be better off with him. Seems like a really stand up guy who seems to care a lot about the player. Can't wait to see what he can do but I have a strong feeling Alvarez made a great decision with Andersen.